The Soft Pack

San Diego's The Soft Pack (formerly The Muslims) play really good lo-fi punk that's seeped in history. It's sort of sloppy, and probably fueled by booze, and if you shut your eyes you just might think you're listening to the Voidoids. They've certainly got the swagger.

There's not a whole lot of intricate orchestration going on in The Muslims songs. The bass just sort of plunks along to the easy-going drum thumps, and the laconic guitars do their best to not shred too much (though there are a couple of nice surf solos thrown in there).

Listening to The Soft Pack you sort of think, "Hey, even I could do that." But hey, you didn't do that. They did. And that's punk rock.